A community called Jack Pudding existed during the 1800s in Hamilton Township, Atlantic County in
Southern New Jersey. It was located east of the Babcock Creek and surrounded the
Babcock's Jack Pudding Branch. There is no way to know if the creek or the
community was named first. This community was reached primarily via
the Jack Pudding Trail that extended from McKeetown (now McKee City) near the
present-day Atlantic City Race Course. There was no direct connection
to Mays Landing at that time.

Cologne Avenue was cleared from Jack Pudding to the north in about 1856 by the
Gloucester Farm and Town Association (see map below from the 1890s).
Twenty-acre farm lots were sold, primarily
to German immigrants. Thus the area became more closely associated with
Egg Harbor and its German population. It remained somewhat isolated from the balance
of Hamilton Township until Cologne Avenue was extended south to the Harding
Highway in the 1920s.

Jack Pudding was recognized as a community in the official Hamilton Township, Atlantic
County, and State of New Jersey records until the 1870s.
Births and deaths were routinely recorded as having occurred in Jack Pudding.

Today, some folks who live in Jack Pudding mistakenly say they are from
Cologne. That is because of the construction of a second railroad in
1877 called the Philadelphia and Atlantic Railway (P&AR). It ran parallel
to 1854ís Camden and Atlantic Rail Road (where New Jersey Transit's Atlantic
City Line runs today). The P&AR was the first to have a depot at Cologne Avenue
in Galloway Township that they called the Cologne Station. As
a result, the Post Office began to serve the local area from that station,
calling that office Cologne after the P&AR station and the street. The residents of
Jack Pudding got their mail there, leading them to say they lived in
Cologne (a community in Galloway Township) rather than Jack Pudding (in
Hamilton Township). Thus, the name Jack Pudding was
temporarily lost.

Postcard depicting
Postmaster William Schmidt in front of the Cologne Station and Post Office

Now, as the result of new historical research, the community of Jack Pudding
is beginning to live again. Many local residents are excited about having
their own identity. Movement is afoot to properly rename local
landmarks such as the Cologne Volunteer Fire Company that sits nearly astride
the Jack Pudding Branch. And Puddingites want their community to be
recognized as a named place, much like Carmantown, Emmelsville, Gravelly
Run, Mays Landing, Mizpah, Reega, West Egg Harbor (now often called Laureldale),
Weymouth, and other Hamilton Township communities.